The solution for next year's race? "We're going to certify the course," Cambre said.

Cambre said there were close to 2,000 runners hit the streets, a bigger turnout than organizers expected. The race, a fund-raising event for Children's Hospital, is expected to continue growing.

When he goes over his checklist, Cambre points to all of the things that went well -- the buses, the volunteers, the water stops, the awards, the postrace party -- and getting the course shored up will make things complete.

"The finish line will be in the same area, and we'll adjust the course to make it more accurate because we were short this year," he said. "St. Charles Ave. was under construction, Higgins was under construction, South Peters under construction. So when we went to measure the course and do everything, we didn't know what was going to be passable. The Thursday before the race, Higgins was shut down totally and we had to adjust some things at the start/finish line and unfortunately, the course was short."

So with the construction out of the way, the course will be certified well in advance of next year's run. Cambre said registration will open early for next year's race, possibly in the spring.

Again, like this year's race, registration will end two weeks before the race.

"We're doing that so we can do more for the participants in the race," he said. "We want to have personalized bib numbers and a commemorative chip. We want to make sure when folks come in and say they want a large shirt that we have a large shirt for them. You have to order all of that in advance. So if you're in the race, we want to give you everything you deserve."

The next thing to do is finalize the date for next year's race. Cambre said they'd like to keep it stationary, the last Saturday in October. That decision should be made in the next week or so.